Groningen FC football fans have attacked a group of supporters of Scottish club Aberdeen in the city centre ahead of their crucial Europa Cup tie on Thursday night, according to local media.

The Scottish supporters, led by a bagpipe band, were set upon by a group of Groningen fans, despite having a five-man police escort, the Dagblad van het Noorden newspaper says.

Riot police led several charges to drive both the Dutch and Scottish fans out of the narrow streets, the paper says. Passers-by were forced to take cover in nearby shops. There were no reports of any arrests.

Threatening

The paper states Aberdeen supporters were furious with the police because ‘they were not looking for trouble and the police could not protect them’.

Onlookers told the paper the situation was very threatening at times, and bikes were being thrown at the pipe players. The Clan MacBeth Pipeband is a Groningen group and had been hired by a former FC Groningen player Henk de Haan as a present for the Scots.

In a comment on Twitter, De Haan said ‘fans of FC Groningen, shame on you’.

In the match itself, Aberdeen beat the northern Dutch side 1-2, putting them out of the competition for a place in the Europa Cup. It is the fifth year in a row Groningen has failed to move on in the competition, news agency ANP says.